In a Heartbeat
by Sparcck
Summary: During the events of the movie, Rogue and Logan discover that one touch can change everything. (Vague much? *g*)


In a Heartbeat  
by Sparcck

Rating: PG/PG-13  
Archive: Kielle, List archives. Anywhere else is fine, just ask me first so I know where it's going.  
Classification: Angst/Romance [Logan/Rogue]   
Spoilers: The movie  
Disclaimer: All characters copyright Marvel and Fox (duh). No own, no harm, no money, no sue.  
Feedback: All comments, criticisms, praise, flames, marriage proposals, death threats should be sent to [sparcck@hotmail.com][1]

Note: I want to thank my wonderful beta readers, the Incredible Lexy, the Amazing Peachy, and the Uncanny Kielle. Thanks for your support and suggestions. I also want to give an extra "thank you so much" to Kielle, whose creativity and drive were the reasons I even attempted to write an X-Men fic. You do such amazing things and you work so hard. Where would we all be without you? 

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_It's the human touch that matters. It's the human touch that can change the world from something you know into something you don't in a heartbeat. _

> -Uncanny X-Men #353

The feeling of his warm shoulder against her cheek was enough to scramble her thoughts quite thoroughly; the fact that she had absorbed and still retained his enhanced senses didn't help matters any. 

He smelled sharp, almost spicy. Cologne? No, it was just _him_, just his smell. She could feel the hair on his face even through her cloak as though his cheek was pressed right against her head. _Oh, god, Ah wish it were..._

"There aren't many people who'll understand what yer goin' through." He was talking again now, trying to convince her to go back to Xavier's. She was amazed at how many things she was able to concentrate on at once. His voice, every word he said, reverberated in her head, and at the same time she was giving just as much attention to the feeling of his mouth moving against her cloaked hair. 

_This is what it feels like_, she thought. _What it feels like t'love someone_. Tears pricked her eyes, and something inside her laughed at her naivete. _Love_. _You'll never know love. This is what it's like t' _feel_._

"He seems to genuinely want to help you," he went on, not knowing what she was thinking. "And that's a rare thing...fer people like us."

_Us. Love_. _Feel._ Words Rogue had thought she could never equate again in her head. And there was that laughing something again, except now it was conjuring images of what happens when people love, about what she could never have. _But there he is_, it whispered. _He's so close, so invitin'..._

He had stopped speaking, the silence heavy, maybe realizing the impact of his own words.

Us. There's an "us."

His hand fell to her shoulder, and she looked up at him. His face was so close. So close she could feel his warm breath on her mouth and his facial hair tickled her cheek. So close and he didn't pull away.

Logan...

His eyes entranced her, a color she had never seen before. Her senses, _his_ senses, were overwhelming her: he smelled so good, felt so good, and her skin tingled with implied contact as she swayed almost imperceptibly closer. _How does he walk around like this? How can anyone stand so much feelin'? Ah don't think Ah could._

_But wouldn't it be nice t' try? _The voice spoke seductively, and she relaxed into it. _It could be _you_ feelin' this, sugah. Feelin' it all the time. If only you'll _take_ it..._

He still hadn't moved, as caught up in her as she was in him.

_Ah could kiss him right now. Ah could feel again, feel _him_ again, an' these senses would never go 'way. Ah could feel more than Ah've ever felt in my life, more than Ah ever _will_ feel..._

Suddenly, the train jerked to life and she whipped her head back from his. She looked anywhere but at him, hoping he hadn't realized her intentions, that she would have kissed him, could have _killed_ him...

He sat back, seeming not to notice her sudden discomfort. "So whatta you say? Give these geeks one more shot?"

She was silent.

"Come on." Then he leaned forward and whispered, "I'll take care o' you."

He was close again, trusting her, wanting to help her. _So close_. She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes without even meaning to. "Ya promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I promise."

She smiled and moved as if to hug him, and that something inside her slithered past her defenses, encouraging her to act on her desires. _Just _take_ it._

He didn't even have time to gasp as she grabbed his head and kissed him. She instantly felt his life flooding into her, cold like ice water, like it had with Cody. Except Logan's powers came right on its heels and she could feel every vein in her body swell and tingle. Like it had last night.

Except this time, sugah, you're not lettin' go.

She felt powerful, out of control, more full of life than she had ever imagined existed. "Logan," she whispered against his mouth, and the feeling spun higher, bringing with it a measure of pain. But pain was still feeling, and it wasn't really _her_ pain, was it? No, it was coming from somewhere else...

His mouth opened under hers to try to scream, but she wouldn't let go. He was frozen against her, and to anyone looking, it looked as though the two were lovers, desperately hanging onto each other in their last kiss.

The power flooding through Rogue was overwhelming, and then the memories came, and her body spasmed as his whole life flashed into her mind at once, all the pain, all the feeling, all the hate and fear and hope and love.

Too much.

She saw herself through his eyes, heard his thoughts tumbling one over the other. She was beautiful in his eyes; he had wanted to touch her so badly, had thought about this, about this very moment.

Never thought it would be like this. Hurts... Marie... Darlin'...

His thoughts. His feeling. His pain. His life.

And then, like that, he was gone.

Oh, god, what have Ah done?

She shoved him back with a force she didn't know she had, and his body convulsed once before slumping lifelessly into his seat. There were sores all over his face and hands, open wounds between his knuckles with a glint of metal beneath, and his eyes were open, frozen first in shock, then in death.

_No._ "No." She reached out to him, touched a gloved finger to an open wound on his face, shaking at the blood she found there, and so _much_ of it... She was all jumbled up inside, trying to figure out what had happened, what this new thing in her head was.

Oh, god, please, no.

He was still there, somewhere, but it was a feeling of cold, of cold metal squeezing around her brain, of ice water running through her instead of blood.

Logan...

She grabbed her head violently, his last seconds of life burning in her mind, the vision of herself, beautiful and deadly. "No!"

Oh yes, darlin'.

And then the screaming started.

_To Be Continued_

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All original story elements and writing copyright 2000 [Jeanine Schaefer][1]. Please do not distribute this without my permission. If you want to archive it, just let me know. Any other comments or criticisms, same thing.

**101-ism:** [http://members.nerve.com/sparcck][2]

   [1]: mailto:sparcck@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://members.nerve.com/sparcck



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